Cecelia “Ci Ci” Holloway

For more than 20 years, Cecelia “Ci Ci” Holloway worked for major entertainment companies throughout the Viacom roster and in various human resources roles at Viacom Interactive Media and Spelling Entertainment Group Inc.

She was senior vice president of diversity and inclusion for Paramount Pictures, working directly with Paramount and Viacom senior leadership on the company’s global diversity initiatives.

Then Holloway did the unthinkable. She left the entertainment industry altogether in 2006, when she joined UBS Investment Bank in the newly created role of managing director of diversity and inclusion for the Americas.

Her mandate: provide leadership in promoting diversity through the development, implementation and assessment of the company’s programs and initiatives.

“My objective is to attract and retain people of difference into financial services roles, whether those differences are age, religion, sexual orientation or generational,” she explains.

Holloway concedes that it is highly unusual to make such a successful transition from the entertainment industry to the financial sector.

She credits UBS-Americas Chairman Robert Wolf with having “the vision to break the mold and hire outside of the financial industry.”

But nothing beats the pride of motherhood, Holloway says. “I love being a mom; I love shaping their minds and preparing them for the future,” she declares. And she loves the fact that her job and her volunteer work at the Anti-Defamation League and the Salvation Army/Hollywood allows her to “reach back and ensure that there is diversity and representation.”

Holloway has a bachelor’s degree in business science and human resources from Syracuse University.

“I grew up in Harlem,” she muses, “and having a sound education and sound role models helped me out, so I try to give sound advice and be a sound role model.”